Building a bait launcher (for fishing)

[LDO]

It's the same concept as a potato cannon/spud gun/whatever. I've never built a spud gun, but I hear that a lot use hair spray or even propane as a combustion source. Not very consistent and may make it a firearm in legal terms. This will use compressed air, with a gauge so I can get repeatable trajectory.

It's not done yet. It needs the PVC barrel glued on. The green plastic thing is a sprinkler valve. It opens faster than a ball valve. It has been modified to open even faster. The barrel is 1 1/2" PVC. The bait will get a hook in it, then aattached to a 12" stainless leader. That will go into a 6" long piece of 1 1/2" pvc and have water poured in. That will get frozen. At the lake, the bait will be taken out of a cooler and allowed to thaw just enough to push the ice/bait plug out. The fishing line will be attached to the leader, then dropped down the barrel and launched farther than a rod and reel can cast it. I have seen YouTube videos of 200 yard launches in fresh water. Surf versions can go 350 yards or more.

I want repeatable trajectories so it can launch for different people and their different rods. My nephew's Zebco only holds about 90 yards of line. We don't need to dial in a 200 yard launch for him.

[LDO]

Got it finished today. Functional, anyway. Fired a few test shots with it. It fired well beyond a tree line that is 40 yards away. Possibly as much as 100 yards. I want to make some kind of mount for it. I held it by hand to fire it today.

It's a pretty cool thing. I can't wait to go fishing with it.